Telecommunications networks facilitate exchange of voice, video and computer data. Local area networks ("LANs") of devices may be formed within a telecommunications network in order to increase network bandwidth usage efficiency by segregating network traffic within such a LAN. In particular, a group of devices in relatively close physical proximity and sharing a common administrative purpose may be designated as members of a LAN.
More recently, virtual LANs ("VLANs") have been developed. In a VLAN, devices that are not in relatively close physical proximity belong to a common network that is analogous to a LAN. However, unlike LANs, VLANs contain broadcast and multicast traffic within a predefined group to limit unnecessary bandwidth use in the overall network. Data units that are associated with a VLAN are identified by a field located at layer-3 of the header of each such data unit. In particular, data transmitted from a member of the VLAN to another member of the VLAN may contain VLAN tag indicators that allow the data to be easily filtered outside of the VLAN, thereby reducing superfluous network traffic. While this distinguishing feature allows devices that are not in close proximity to be members of a common VLAN, examination and processing of layer-3 header information is time consuming and processor intensive. A more efficient method and apparatus for supporting VLAN operation would therefore be desirable.